Today the House and the Senate reached a deal renewing the Patriot Act for another four years. Libraries CAN still be required to turn over records of particular patrons’ library usage. Here’s a snippet from a Yahoo! news article.

The compromise also makes changes to national security letters, an investigative tool used by the
FBI to compel businesses to turn over customer information without a court order or grand jury subpoena.

Under the agreement, the reauthorization specifies that an NSL can be reviewed by a court, and explicitly allows those who receive the letters to inform their lawyers about them.

The Bush administration contends that such consultation already is allowed, citing at least two court challenges to NSLs. However, in a letter obtained by the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act and posted on its Web site, the FBI prohibits the recipient “from disclosing to any person that the FBI has sought or obtained access to information or records under these provisions.”

That means if you’re a library that’s been forced to turn over any records, you’d better not blog about it!